travel42 Port Guide: Townsville

travel42 Professional Cruise Port of Call Review

Townsville is often overlooked because it has fewer tourist attractions than Cairns, which is 170 mi/275 km to the northwest. But it also has fewer tourists, which means it feels more like a typical Australian town than a mecca for travelers headed to the Great Barrier Reef.

At least a one-day stop is warranted there just to see the Great Barrier Reef Wonderland, an aquarium that contains a re-created coral reef. Under artificial conditions, the aquarium fosters 150 different species of coral...